!~!Judoka Arik Ze'evi earns Israel its first medal at Athens Olympic Games!~!

[[MakkabI]]

Israeli judoka Arik Ze'evi won Israel its first Olympic medal in the Athens Games on Thursday, after defeating Dutch opponent Elco Van Der Geest in the men's 100-kg judo competition.




"It was the hardest day of my life," said Ze'evi after the match, "in light of the people who made it to the finals it is a true accomplishment. I am very pleased with the bronze."

The judoka added, "I have been under tremendous stress all week, particularly in the past few days."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Ze'evi to congratulate him on his victory and said: "You were under a lot of pressure and you stood fast as a true warrior, you have brought great joy to the entire nation of Israel."

President Moshe Katsav also called Ze'evi to congratulate him on his winning the bronze.

Ze'evi's bronze is Israel's fifth in Olympic history. Judoka Yael Arad won a silver medal in Barcelona in 1992, and judoka Oren Smadja won a bronze in the same games. Windsurfer Gal Friedman won a bronze in Atlanta in 1996, and kayakist Michael Kolganov won a bronze in Sydney 2000.

Ze'evi lost his chance to win a gold when he was defeated Thursday by Jang Sung Ho of South Korea in his third bout.

The loss led Ze'evi to the repechage group, where he defeated Franck Martial Moussima from Cameroon in the semi-final and French opponent Chislain Lemaire in the final of the group.

Ze'evi was leading the battle against Ho in the third round and managed to score more points than his opponent, but was thrown onto his shoulders in a move called an ippon, which won his Korean opponent the fight.

Ze'evi, the defending European champion and No. 2 in the world, overcame world No. 3 Mario Sabino of Brazil in his first bout. He went on to defeat Italian Michele Monti, who in turn defeated the Sydney 2000 silver medallist, Nicolas Gill of Canada.

Also on Thursday in Athens, Education Minister Limor Livnat is scheduled to participate in what has been described as an unofficial commemoration of the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which 11 Israeli atheletes were killed.

On September 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists stormed an Olympic Village apartment house at the Munich Olympics, killing two Israeli athletes and holding the others hostage in an effort to bargain for the freedom of 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. In a botched rescue attempt after a 20-hour standoff, nine more Israeli athletes were killed, as well as five terrorists and a German policeman.

Source: Haaretz

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"Mazel tov, Arik," Prime Minister Arik Sharon belted out over the phone lines to his namesake judoka Arik Ze'evi hours after the three-time European judo champ added an Olympic bronze medal to his trophy case. "We're very proud of you and [the people of Israel] take part in your joy... You withstood the pressure like a true warrior."

Sharon usually reserves such words for national heroes, which is what Ze'evi has become following his ippon victory over Dutch champ Elco van der Geest in the bronze medal match of the under-100 kg judo competition in Athens on Thursday.

On the sixth day of competition, some 2,000 loud Israeli fans packed into the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall to see one of Israel's top medal hopefuls, and Ze'evi did not disappoint. The 27-year-old won five bouts, all via ippon, Judo's equivalent of a knockout, on his way to bringing Israel its fifth Olympic medal ever, and its third in judo.

His lone defeat came at the hands of eventual silver medal winner, Korean Sung ho Jang, in the quarterfinals in a bout that Ze'evi seemed to be in complete control of.

"The Korean beat me because of a mistake caused by tiredness, a lapse in concentration," Ze'evi later told Channel 1. "After all, I was leading."

Ze'evi was all smiles as Israeli International Olympic Committee member Alex Gilady crowned him with an olive branch wreath and presented him with his medal. Gilady was also on hand to present the Israeli medallists at the past two Olympics, Gal Friedman in Atlanta and Michael Kolganov in Sydney, with their medals.

Despite his impressive performance, Ze'evi later admitted that he wasn't at his best, though it was hard to tell at times. His day began with a tough bout against Mario Sabino of Brazil. In a very tactical match-up, the Israeli was ahead on points when the referee awarded him a victory with eight seconds remaining by Hansoku-make, the equivalent of an ippon, for Sabino's mounting minor violations.

Next he threw down Italian Michele Monti in a bout that lasted 4:14 and sent him to the quarterfinals. Ze'evi took control with an early waza-ari move, worth five points, at the 3:17 mark, when he lifted Jang and dropped on his side. However, the bout was stopped immediately after the move for the second time to stop the bleeding from a small cut on the Israeli's nose. The trainer wrapped a bandage over Ze'evi's nose, behind his ears, and around his head to ensure that the blood would not come through, since the referee could disqualify the Israeli for a third medical treatment.

Ze'evi never regained his confidence after that point, reverting to a much more defensive style. The Korean eventually found a way to lift Ze'evi as they were grappling for position near the corner of the mat, and the Israeli was unable to break his hold before he found himself on his back and out of contention for a gold medal.

At that point, many of the other judokas might have been broken, but Ze'evi showed his heart as he rebounded in the consolation bouts. "I've never competed in such an atmosphere, it was like a basketball arena," Ze'evi complimented the fans that traveled to see him. "The Israelis with the singing and the flags drowned out all the other fans in the hall." With all that support behind him, Ze'evi came out against Cameroonian Franck Martial Moussima in his first bout in the repechage group and recorded his third win, although he needed the full five minutes before he was awarded an ippon for locking down his opponent for 25 seconds.

Next he took on world runner-up Ghislain Lemaire, who seemed almost disinterested in the bout, allowing Ze'evi to pin him down and hold him as well for a 25 count to record the ippon after 2:48 and set up a chance for the bronze medal. Finally, with the medal on the line, Ze'evi proved to be unstoppable against van der Geest, who earlier in the day shocked the gold medal favorite, Kosei Inoue of Japan.

It took nearly three minutes for Ze'evi to score first, recording a koka, one point, for dropping the Dutchman on his derriere. Once he was trailing, van der Geest began to attack more and opened himself up to Ze'evi during an attempt to sweep him. Ze'evi responded by reversing the move and heaving van der Geest squarely onto his back for an ippon to secure the win to the delight of the Israelis in the crowd.

Source: Jerusalem Post


Photos:
[IMG]http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?ssbinary=true&cachecontrol=*%3A0%2C30%3A10+*%2F*%2F*&blobtable=JPImage&blobcol=urlimage&blobwhere=1092884504957&blobkey=id&blobheader=image/gif[/IMG]
Israeli fans


Arik Ze'evi, in blue, throwing Elco Van Der Geest of the Netherlands to win bronze in Athens yesterday.




Ihar Makarau of Belarus (gold), Sung Ho Jang of Korea (silver), Michael Jurack of Germany (bronze), and Ariel Zeevi of Israel (bronze) display their medals after the men's judo -100 kg class event, at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall in Athens on 19/08/2004

[[MakkabI]]

!!MAZAL TOV ~ ARIK ZE'EVI!!

Hope for more medals for Israel!!

[[MakkabI]]

Arik Ze'evi displaying his bronze medal at the Athens Games on Thursday.

[RoM]

Mazal tov for the bronze medal...too bad its not a gold medal but good work nevertheless!

Mazal Tov! Unfortunately, I missed it...I don't know, if there are just not enough Israeli athlets, so that I always miss them or if they just don't show those competitions, where there's nothing about Germany. But there was a German guy on the 3rd rank, too, was there?

[Henk]

Congratulations with the first olympic medal. I hope more will follow.

[MTL-514]

mazel tov to Arik and to all of Israel